Assemblyman Cunningham joins community leaders for groundbreaking of new water project

Cunningham Helped Push the Project through State Bureaucracy

– On June 8, Jordan Cunningham (R-San Luis Obispo) joined the Templeton Community Services District and local leaders for a special groundbreaking ceremony of the Templeton Upper Salinas River Basin Conjunctive Use Project (US-CUP). The water project will increase local water supply, a central focus of Assemblyman Cunningham’s agenda.

“Our community needs more water,” said Assemblyman Cunningham. “With innovative and resourceful projects like this one, we can become masters of our own water destiny on the Central Coast.”

State loans for the project were tied up at the State Water Resources Control Board earlier this year and, as a result, the project was in danger of major delays. Assemblyman Cunningham worked with the board to free up funds so construction could begin on schedule.

Jeff Briltz, TCSD General Manager, made the following statement in response Cunningham’s efforts in Sacramento:

“We would like to thank Assemblyman Jordan Cunningham for stepping in to work with the State Water Resources Control Board on our behalf. His involvement hurried the project loan funding process along. The loan agreement includes approximately $1.1 million in loan forgiveness and the project is anticipated to be completed on schedule by the end of 2018.”

According to the Templeton Community Services District, the US-CUP will increase water supply by an additional 242 acre-feet per year (AFY). TCSD says the project “will capture existing wastewater flows that are currently being discharged outside of the Atascadero Basin, and return these wastewater flows back to the Meadowbrook Wastewater Treatment Plant (MWWTP) for treatment.”